Reed-Solomon (RS) error correction is used in many applications, including consumer technologies such as DVDs, data transmission technologies such as WiMAX, broadcast systems such as DVB, and storage systems such as RAID. In general, RS error correction involves forming codewords using a generator polynomial, the codewords containing message symbols (e.g. symbols containing useful data) and parity symbols. The codewords are generally formed in a transmitter and sent to a receiver over a channel. An aspect of RS error correction is that a receiver is capable of correcting multiple errors in the received message symbols using the parity symbols, which errors might arise from a number of factors, such as corrupted communications affecting the channel.
In order to decode RS codewords to obtain message symbols, and perform error correction if necessary, a receiver must first detect the boundary of the codewords in a stream of transmitted bits or bit stream. This can be challenging and time-consuming in many applications, including applications in which the codewords are further subject to scrambling before transmission.